The PDC World Championships of Darts kicks off Sunday night at the Alexandra Palace, the host of the event since 2008 and, if some commentary comes true, perhaps the last time. For Aussies and Kiwis, it will be in the early hours of Monday morning, 3am in Perth, 5am in Brisbane, 530am in Darwin and Adelaide, 6am in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Hobart, and 8am across New Zealand.
Day One – Sunday (UK Time)
The first night sees Australian representation in the opening match. DPA number one from the 2024 season, Joe Comito, goes up against Thibault Tricole. The French number one is currently ranked 79th in the main PDC order of merit. He was the first French man to win a game at the PDC Worlds when he defeated Mario Vandenbogaerd 3-1 in Round One last year.
Last year’s event saw an Australian win on the first night as Simon Whitlock defeated Paolo Nebrida 3-2. The DPA number one that year, Darren Penhall, also won his opening match, 3-1 against Jules van Dongen, so Comito will be hoping to continue both trends.
Whoever wins will have quite the challenge on the same night, though, as they will take on reigning world champion Luke Humphries in the closing match of night one. However, the challenger can take some solace from the scare Michael Smith had last year as reigning champion. Smith won his first set 3-1 before dropping the next two to the debutant Kevin Doets, 2-3 on both occasions. He then took the next two sets thanks to 2-0 leads in both culminating in 3-1 wins in sets four and five. Whoever wins the opening match will be looking to go one set better than Doets, but the form Humphries is in could be telling of what may happen instead.
Jermaine Wattimena, on a bit of a form revival later, should be good enough to defeat the first player to represent Switzerland in the PDC World Championships, Stefan Bellmont. The Swiss three-time PDC World Cup of Darts representative made it through to the Ally Pally by winning a Western European Qualifier, getting past Jimmy van Schie in the deciding leg of the match.
The third match of the night sees Belgian Kim Huybrechts, take on 22-year-old Irishman Keane Barry. The winner has the chance to take on Gerwyn Price and whilst in any other year this might cause trepidation, given the Welshman’s current form dip, the opportunity might be there for either Barry or Huybrechts to go on a deep run if they can start off well on night one
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